MEGAMISSIONS

Here it is - the second Aftermath-only MegaMission. This mission is probably the biggest, baddest, hardest Aftermath mission in existance! If you are a beginner at The Aftermath then don't try this at home!
To play MegaMission 2 you should first read the briefing below. There is no mission brief at the beginning of the mission because there simply isn't room to say everything needed there.


NOTE THIS VERSION IS CURRENTLY BETA WHILE I HAVE CHANCE TO FIX ANY BUGS THAT MAY BE FOUND. CURRENTLY IT APPEARS THAT THE SECOND MEGAMISSION IS JUST TOO BIG FOR RED ALERT TO HANDLE CORRECTLY AND IT PLAYS SLOWLY AND EVENTUALLY CRASHES. IF ANYONE COMPLETES IT SUCCESSFULLY PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

For this reason I have now made the first MegaMission available for download again in case anyone wants to play it. It is a reasonably good mission and at least it doesn't usually crash! :-) As far as I know it was the first mission outside of Westwood to include the Aftermath units and commands in a mission. Please note that I am NOT updating the Hall Of Fame for this mission anymore. Feel free to let me know if you complete the mission but I won't be adding names to the list. Thanks.

The Briefing:
The Soviets have taken over an entire Allied base with a carefully planned operation. They now have control of a very large area and also have a lot of Allied technology at their disposal. Your mission is to destroy the Soviet threat, but this will not be easy.
Albert Einstein was also working at the base at the time of the attack. He is being held in a prison in the Naval base. You must capture the prison intact in order to get him away safely.
We have an old reconnaissence map showing the area in question. We have highlighted the following areas of importance:
Red = The main base where the Soviets have a very large presence. This must be destroyed.
Orange = The Ukranians have built an airbase near to the main base.
Blue = This is our naval base which has been taken over. Rather than try and recapture it High Command has decided it would be safer to destroy it, as long as the prison is kept intact long enough to save Einstein.
Brown = The Soviets are making their presence known in this area. We do not know what they are building here.
We also believe there is a guerilla presence in the mountains to the North-West. We have no idea of their intentions or of their military strength.
The dark green shows the remains of the French army that is still just about resisting Soviet attempts to eliminate it.
The light green is the safest place in the area for reinforcements to arrive. This is where you will be stationed. You are to take control of the English reinforcements and destroy the Soviets. The French will help but will obey your commands if you wish.
Note - you will be attacked in large numbers by Allied & Soviet weaponry because the Soviets now have access to a lot of our technology. This will be a serious handicap in your fight. However, if you can destroy the air defences in the Ukranian airbase we will be able to send in some reinforcements. Similarly, we may be able to help if you can destroy the entry base in front of the main Red base. Do not expect too much though, as our forces are depleted.
If you can infiltrate the Soviet Forward Command Post with a spy then he will be able to give you advance warning when the Soviets are about to chronoshift units into your base to aid you in defensive strategy.
Finally, there is an oil field in the nearby town. If you destroy this then the oil pipeline will blow up, along with anything nearby. We have marked this pipeline in black on the reconnaissence map. Note that the townsfolk will not be happy about you destroying their property though and they may take up arms against you.
IMPORTANT: Due to the massive size of the mission it seems that Red Alert cannot handle saving the mission without crashing! Therefore the only way to complete it is to win the mission in one sitting! If you manage to save the mission successfully please email me.
Also note that the mission will not say Mission Failed when you lose. This is to save some processing power as it is usually pretty obvious when you have lost! :-)

Alterations
MegaMission 2 contains only the units available in Red Alert and Aftermath. There are no new graphics or units, just pure gameplay. However, many units have some slight alterations to enhance the mission. These are detailed below:

V2 Rocket Launcher: Slightly stronger
Medium tank: Slightly more expensive, slightly tougher
Heavy tank: More expensive
Mobile Radar Jammer: Half price, slightly tougher
Mobile Gap Generator, Cheaper, slightly tougher
Artillery: Cheaper, tougher, faster rate-of-turn
Ranger: Slightly cheaper
APC: Slightly cheaper
MineLayer: Stronger, slightly cheaper
LST: Can now carry 6 units
Phase transport: Can now carry 6 infantry units
Dog: Cheaper
Thief, Tanya,MCV: Not buildable in the mission
Mechanic, Medic: Will see damaged units further away and go to help
Allied Tech Centre: Slightly stronger
Bio Research Lab: Now is a nuclear power station.
Normal Power station: Gives out slightly more power.
Charge times for super weapons are also slightly different

There are no other noticeable differences to units and structures in the mission than in Aftermath.
YOU NEED AFTERMATH TO PLAY THIS MISSION. IT IS POSSIBLE TO LOAD THE MISSION IN NORMAL RED ALERT BUT IT WILL NOT PLAY PROPERLY AT ALL. ONLY HALF THE MAP WILL BE AVAILABLE AND THE COMPUTER WILL SEEM REALLY STUPID (ASSUMING THE GAME DOESN'T CRASH BEFORE YOU FIND THE COMPUTER BASE!)

How To Install MegaMission 2:
Download the zipfile by clicking on the link above.
Use Pkunzip or Winzip to unzip all the contents into your main Red Alert:Aftermath directory (usually C:\WESTWOOD\REDALERT). Overwrite any existing files if prompted to. This will only be necessary if you have installed another third party mission or campaign.
Now start Red Alert: The Aftermath as normal and choose to play a normal campaign as Allies.

To play the original Red Alert campaign again you should remove any and all of the following files from your Red Alert directory:
README.TXT
TUTORIAL.INI
MISSION.INI
SC???E?.INI
AFTRMATH.INI
RULES.INI
TITLE.PCX
(where the ? denotes any character. eg SCG01EA.INI)
 

MegaMission 2 Features: MegaMission 2 improves upon most Red Alert missions in several ways and even manages to improve on the original! The main features include: Megasize Map for increased strategy! Every normal Aftermath unit used in the mission! 'Intelligent' computer controlled Ally whose units also respond to your commands! Five AI bases - Four enemy and 1 allied! Enemy attacks will come from the Air, Sea and Land in every shape and form. Attacks will include Missile Submarines, Cruisers, Tesla Tanks, Shock troopers, DemoTrucks, Mammoth tanks, M.A.D. tanks, Phase transports, Chronotanks, Mobile Gap Generators, Migs and more! Chronotanks are now intelligently controlled by the enemy! Mechanics and Medics are used by the computer! Para-tank reinforcements! Helicarrier enabled. Computer use of the Phase Transport! Huge main enemy base will be reconstructed given time! Extra mission objectives including save Einstein and destroy the oil pipeline!

Known Bugs:

• The mission takes a VERY long time to load because of it's size. This is not really a bug, but it can look like the game has crashed. You will need a reasonably fast computer to run this mission. I have a P166+ with 64Mb RAM and it is sometimes a bit slow, and it takes around 30 seconds to load the mission in the first place!
• Sometimes the computer controlled chronotanks attempt to shift to a position which it cannot go to (for instance if you have built a structure there). When this happens the chronotank may not arrive correctly. To solve the problem you can sell the structure or attempt to destroy the chronotank or simply put up with the noise it is making! :-)
• It does not seem to be possible to save the mission and reload later to continue. I can only assume this is due to the massive size of the mission because if I remove some of the features the mission saves correctly. The only way to complete the game is to play the mission in one sitting without saving! If you manage to save the mission and reload it please email me and let me know at what point you saved the mission and what type of computer you are running it on.
• In testing, the mission has been known to crash for no apparent reason, although not in recent tests. This is very unusual because a crash usually means something wrong with the mission, but it seems fine. Since it is not possible to save the mission (at least it isn't on my computer anyway) this is a real shame, but hopefully it won't happen too often.

The Original Hall of Fame: - THIS HALL OF FAME IS NOW CLOSED
The following people managed to complete the first MegaMission:
 

First, pgraven emailed me with the correct final message. His time of 1 hour 20 minutes (Red Alert time) was the first I received!
Secondly, Rick Mayer emailed to say he completed it too.
Cozmo Kramer has now completed the mission! He took a (Red Alert) time of 1 hour 48 minutes.
Oliver Wong has also completed the MegaMission in 1 hour 52 minutes.
TOpDaWg0O7@aol.com emailed to say he completed it in 1 hour 12 minutes!

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This page last updated on 13-May-99
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